With the debut this week of Oracle ME, the new employee experience platform that is part of Oracle’s HCM platform, the HR tech vendor is focusing keenly on employee listening and communication and overall employee experience in an effort to help organizations keep the Great Resignation at bay. It’s yet another sign of the increasing importance of and rapid growth in the EX and listening space, analysts note.
Employee experience has been a focus for Oracle for some time. But the events of the last two years have intensified the need for a new personalized EX that enables businesses to see their employees as unique individuals—and not just talent, says Yvette Cameron, senior vice president of global HCM product strategy, and 2021 HRE Top 100 HR Tech Influencer.
“People just want their employers to listen to them, support them and encourage them with their personal and professional growth and enable their success in their job,” says Cameron. “Is that too much to ask?”
Experts say that companies are eager to listen to employees and willing to invest in these solutions.
According to Josh Bersin, global industry analyst, CEO of The Josh Bersin Co., and Human Resource Executive® columnist, the employee experience and listening space is growing at more than 100% per year as organizations seek integrated platforms for surveys, portals, employee journeys and even training.
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“Oracle is now focused on this market, which has to address the needs of employees in white-collar, blue-collar and part-time roles,” he says, adding that listening solutions will prove valuable as organizations vie to keep talent and create return-to-office strategies.
“Most companies now adopt a hybrid work strategy so they expect many employees to work part-time or at home for some period of time every week, so they need more sophisticated productivity tools sitting on top of the core HR systems,” says Bersin.
What’s inside Oracle ME
Oracle ME, which stands for “My Experience,” is designed “to streamline communications across the organization, increase productivity by guiding employees through complex tasks, and improve talent retention by developing a more supportive and trusted environment at work,” according to an Oracle press statement.
The platform consists of six new modules that address employee engagement and communications. Oracle Touchpoints, for example, is an employee listening solution that allows managers to capture, track and act on employee sentiment. Another module Oracle HCM Communicate allows HR teams to design, send, monitor and measure the impact of communications.
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The other four modules are Oracle Journeys, a workflow solution for complex tasks; Oracle Connections, an interactive workforce directory and organization chart; and Oracle HR Help Desk and Oracle Digital Assistant, both for answering employee questions.
“You can’t solve problems you don’t know about, so it’s important for organizations to ask their employees how they’re feeling. That’s the first step to building trust within the workforce,” industry analyst Tim Sackett, president of HRUTech.com, said in an Oracle press statement.
Employee engagement and listening tools can also help with the Great Resignation, says Cameron.
“Talent attraction, retention, productivity and innovation all suffer at organizations when employees are not feeling supported, listened to and understood, and thus the rise in focus on employee experiences at every point where individuals interact with their employer,” she says. “But employee experience is not a one size fits all strategy—personalization is critical.”
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